Sure, we could complain about those poor decisions in the first place, but I admire any person or organization willing to admit past mistakes and take steps to correct it.
While I agree that making it default _without asking_ is a shady move on Microsoft's part, I'm sure what the payoff is for them versus the negative response many people will have. Those users who have a non-IE browser as default will notice the switch and will switch it back, these are the users who are actively choosing which browser to use anyway. The people who don't care what browser they are using, are probably already using IE. So what do they accomplish, other than reaffirming to the non-IE people the rightness of their choice?
Pointing out that IE8 doesn't support standards properly is pointless. We know this, but at least IE is making progress from 6 to 7 to now 8 I hear is the best of all so far. So that is to be commended. You know... positive reinforcement - good job Microsoft, keep it up!
And if you care that much about standards, I hear Opera is better than Firefox.
I used the piwik software before it was renamed to piwik. At that time it was quite clunky doing all kinds of background calculations and it's totals didn't add up. Wasn't impressed. I wonder if it's been improved since then.
There's no decline in gamers' desire for hardcore games. Look at the success of Fallout 3. The problem is that it's becoming more of pain in the neck for hard core gamers. Yesterday my Xbox360 made a grinding noise that sent my blood pressure up. When you have to treat your system like it's made out of crystal, and when you're constantly fighting with freezes and crashes and hardware failures it spoils some of the fun. A friend of mine had to send away his 360 for repairs, and he hasn't gotten back into Fallout3 yet even though it's been back for a month.
Nintendo makes rock solid hardware- but their games are more casual. So my brother- a hardcore gamer who happens to have a Wii is spending time on World of Goo instead of Fallout, and the other bigger games.
Did I miss something, are notebooks getting slower? I run 5-8 apps, such as dreamweaver, photoshop, filezilla, thunderbird, IE, and firefox on my laptop all the time and it's a year old!
Ha. I have a great story. My first programming job. $8.50/hour. In an office that had a stink from the previous tenants lettin their dog run around in the offices (complete with circular stains on the carpet). One of the bosses lived in the office on a couch in the back so the one working bathroom doubled as his own bathroom. So the place smelled like un-showered-guy + dog piss + unclean washroom.
I was the only girl among 5 other guys. The one washroom was not washed the whole time I worked there (over a year) and was getting pretty 'fuzzy' on the floor. No water machine so they expected you to get water from the washroom (I brought my own).
The computers and desks were nice... but I had a leak in the ceiling that would run down the wall behind my desk right where all the wires were.
My desk was FACING a huge window with no curtains so I had to put up cardboard and a blanket to block the sun.
Heat was sketchy in the winter and the only air-conditioner was blowing into the boss's office.
The one good thing I can say about that job is I gained a lot of experience in several different programming environments (including for blackberry), and the lead developer was hyper critical so I learned fast to write good code.
Unless Google plans to scan these books then somehow eradicate all other copies of the books from the face of the earth, then no, they are not going to be the only source or have a monopoly. Nothing stopping you from doing the same thing they're doing.
The fear comes from the fact that Google will make it so easy to access these works that people will wonder how they ever lived without this easy access. And suddenly a luxury type service becomes a necessity with Google the sole supplier.
Well good for them. Now if you hate that idea so much, you are free to do the same as they are and build your own repository to compete with them, or maybe not even to compete, just to exist as an alternative. Google is just ahead of the times. Ie- innovative.
Make sure you open it up periodically to blow out the dust and _animal fur_ that's going to accumulate in there. That'll be a big source of any future hardware issues.
So I'm going to have to pay a $60 mobile phone bill in order to control my entertainment system. I don't think so. I can't be the only person who doesn't have a cellphone.
You're right about VHS tapes. My little sister's prized copy of some Disney movie was eaten by the VCR. I cut out the crushed part of the tape, scotch-taped it back together and it plays perfectly, minus one sentence of dialogue. Now that's reliability.
It has nothing to do with complexity, but all to do with cheap components (as you mention) and planned obsolescence. Now I wonder why companies would do this? Hmmm... it's not hard to figure out.
Looking at HTML source is not a good reflection of the quality of the actual site code. Since Perl, PHP et al. will write HTML to the browser often without formatting, indenting line breaks etc.
Now slowness, or code that doesn't validate, that's another issue.
Slashdot Mirror
Sure, we could complain about those poor decisions in the first place, but I admire any person or organization willing to admit past mistakes and take steps to correct it.
While I agree that making it default _without asking_ is a shady move on Microsoft's part, I'm sure what the payoff is for them versus the negative response many people will have. Those users who have a non-IE browser as default will notice the switch and will switch it back, these are the users who are actively choosing which browser to use anyway. The people who don't care what browser they are using, are probably already using IE. So what do they accomplish, other than reaffirming to the non-IE people the rightness of their choice?
Pointing out that IE8 doesn't support standards properly is pointless. We know this, but at least IE is making progress from 6 to 7 to now 8 I hear is the best of all so far. So that is to be commended. You know... positive reinforcement - good job Microsoft, keep it up!
And if you care that much about standards, I hear Opera is better than Firefox.
What do you do? Support IE6 and up - a daunting task esp. when it's nearly impossible to have all 3 versions installed on the same machine.
Or does this mark the time to drop support for IE6?
Good to know. Thanks for the update.
I used the piwik software before it was renamed to piwik. At that time it was quite clunky doing all kinds of background calculations and it's totals didn't add up. Wasn't impressed. I wonder if it's been improved since then.
I've been looking for a good FOSS php analytics suite and what's out there is so crappy I've toyed with making one myself. Time is my barrier though.
I completely agree. Adding the OPTION to use the remote or GC controller seems like a no brainer to me.
There's no decline in gamers' desire for hardcore games. Look at the success of Fallout 3. The problem is that it's becoming more of pain in the neck for hard core gamers. Yesterday my Xbox360 made a grinding noise that sent my blood pressure up. When you have to treat your system like it's made out of crystal, and when you're constantly fighting with freezes and crashes and hardware failures it spoils some of the fun. A friend of mine had to send away his 360 for repairs, and he hasn't gotten back into Fallout3 yet even though it's been back for a month.
Nintendo makes rock solid hardware- but their games are more casual. So my brother- a hardcore gamer who happens to have a Wii is spending time on World of Goo instead of Fallout, and the other bigger games.
I think we're all just frustrated.
Did I miss something, are notebooks getting slower? I run 5-8 apps, such as dreamweaver, photoshop, filezilla, thunderbird, IE, and firefox on my laptop all the time and it's a year old!
What's the point of this limit exactly?
I plug mine into a digital timer and have it cycle on for an hour, off for two hours when I'm at work.
Ubuntu. And I requested a free cd from their website. Even easier than walking to the store.
I don't know much, but I install software with a couple clicks via Ubuntu's package manager. I don't compile it...
A Web Developer is someone with either backend programming skills or some mad Javascript/AJAX skills.
Someone who is mostly html/css and a tad of JS and graphic design is a Web Designer.
A graphic/artist is the Graphic Designer.
A Web Master controls the content, usually through some kind of CMS or by contacting the web development team.
Ha. I have a great story. My first programming job. $8.50/hour. In an office that had a stink from the previous tenants lettin their dog run around in the offices (complete with circular stains on the carpet). One of the bosses lived in the office on a couch in the back so the one working bathroom doubled as his own bathroom. So the place smelled like un-showered-guy + dog piss + unclean washroom.
I was the only girl among 5 other guys. The one washroom was not washed the whole time I worked there (over a year) and was getting pretty 'fuzzy' on the floor. No water machine so they expected you to get water from the washroom (I brought my own).
The computers and desks were nice... but I had a leak in the ceiling that would run down the wall behind my desk right where all the wires were.
My desk was FACING a huge window with no curtains so I had to put up cardboard and a blanket to block the sun.
Heat was sketchy in the winter and the only air-conditioner was blowing into the boss's office.
The one good thing I can say about that job is I gained a lot of experience in several different programming environments (including for blackberry), and the lead developer was hyper critical so I learned fast to write good code.
Ahhh memories. I love my current job.
I'm suddenly glad I never tried WoW. Your description sounds like some kind of virtual hell.
Unless Google plans to scan these books then somehow eradicate all other copies of the books from the face of the earth, then no, they are not going to be the only source or have a monopoly. Nothing stopping you from doing the same thing they're doing.
The fear comes from the fact that Google will make it so easy to access these works that people will wonder how they ever lived without this easy access. And suddenly a luxury type service becomes a necessity with Google the sole supplier.
Well good for them. Now if you hate that idea so much, you are free to do the same as they are and build your own repository to compete with them, or maybe not even to compete, just to exist as an alternative. Google is just ahead of the times. Ie- innovative.
Make sure you open it up periodically to blow out the dust and _animal fur_ that's going to accumulate in there. That'll be a big source of any future hardware issues.
Schools are huge for this. And they have an even shorter 'office hours' so the time the computers are unused is even longer.
That, Naked Jaybird is an EXCELLENT comment. I copied it down and put it next to my 'work out plans' that I've been neglecting.
So I'm going to have to pay a $60 mobile phone bill in order to control my entertainment system. I don't think so. I can't be the only person who doesn't have a cellphone.
You're right about VHS tapes. My little sister's prized copy of some Disney movie was eaten by the VCR. I cut out the crushed part of the tape, scotch-taped it back together and it plays perfectly, minus one sentence of dialogue. Now that's reliability.
It has nothing to do with complexity, but all to do with cheap components (as you mention) and planned obsolescence. Now I wonder why companies would do this? Hmmm... it's not hard to figure out.
Looking at HTML source is not a good reflection of the quality of the actual site code. Since Perl, PHP et al. will write HTML to the browser often without formatting, indenting line breaks etc.
Now slowness, or code that doesn't validate, that's another issue.
For those complaining that none of the examples do anything 'useful', check out this- a js animated sphere of your blog tags:
http://student.agh.edu.pl/~fatyga/repos/stratus/example.php